Have I told you lately that I love you?
When Andrew stirred in bed and slowly opened his green eyes, the first thing he saw was a pair of bright brown eyes staring at him. Monica was lying next to him with her chin propped on her hand and her hands resting upon his shoulder. On her face, there was a beautiful smile and the deepest and purest love. “Good morning, Mr angel of death!”
“Hey! What we have here? An early angel girl!” he said, smiling back at her and immediately wrapping his arms around her, drawing his beloved wife closer to him. “Good morning, angel...”
Monica reached up and stroked his disarrayed blond hair as he lay small soft kisses on her lips. “I dreamt about you...”
“Really? Was it a good dream?” she wanted to know.
“Not as good as waking up with you here by my side...” and then he looked at her, noticing that she was wearing a long flowered dress and not her night-gown, “Hum... talking about waking up... Is it my impression or you got up first than me?” there was a rather confused and curious look on his face which she didn’t miss and which caused her to chuckle.
“Well, in fact, yes, I woke up about an hour ago...”
“Whoa! That early? May I ask you why?”
“Because today is the last day of our honeymoon and I wanted to see you waking up...” came the simple answer with her usual sweetness.
“Angel... I love you... Have I told you that lately?” the blond angel asked, tenderly stroking her hair and kissing the back of her hand. A pensive expression appeared on her face, along with the permanent smile that lingered there.
Amused, he raised his eyebrows questioningly, but before he could ask her what she was thinking, she spoke again, “Can we make a deal?”
“A deal? What deal, Monica?”
“Will you make me this question again at the end of the day?”
Chuckling and also intrigued, he looked at her face, “Why?”
“You’ll see...”
“What’s inside this pretty little head of yours, huh?”
“Andrew, please!”
“Okay!”
“Thank you!” she grabbed his face and placed lots of quick kisses on his lips.
“So... what do you want to do today?” he asked, as soon as she rested her head on his chest.
“I believe you owe me a swimming lesson...”
“Are you sure you want to do it, angel?”
“Yes! I want to try and you’ll be there with me all the time, it won’t be difficult...”
“Okay, my brave little angel girl! Your wish is my command!”
*
“Are you ready?” Andrew asked, holding Monica’s hand and softly rubbing his thumb on its back. They were both standing at the bank of a lake, formed by the sea waters, and wearing their bathing suits. The Irish angel was looking at the small mass of water biting her lower lip with a worried expression on her face.
“How deep did you say it was, Andrew?”
“A bit above your waist, honey.” He saw her indecision and gently stroked her cheek, “But if you don’t want to do this, it’s ok, we can go and take a walk on the beach instead.”
“No... no, I can do it, Andrew. I know I can. But... would you hold my hand just in case?”
Smiling, he took her hand again and kissed her palm, “Of course, angel. I wouldn’t let you go for anything in this world. Besides...” he then eyed her from head to toe, taking a good look at her one piece blue swimming suit, “...you look quite cute with this bathing suit and I don’t think I could keep my eyes off of you anyway!”
Those words caused Monica to blush deeply and she lowered her eyes for a few seconds, with a shy smile on her face, which made her even more adorable to him. Smiling even more, he brushed a loving kiss on her cheek, “Let’s go then?”
“Yes...”
Step by step, the two angels entered the water and if in the beginning Monica was apprehensive about it, by the time they had reached the middle of the lake, she seemed to relax a little.
“See? That wasn’t that bad, was it?”
“No... Not bad so far...” she answered, grasping at his hand firmly.
“Now the first step is to get used to the water... Don’t you want to get your hair wet?”
“Yes but...”
Before she could finish her sentence, he wrapped his arms around her small shoulders and still holding her hand, he said, “Close your eyes...”
“But Andrew...”
“Don’t you trust me?” he asked, with a bit of amusement as he knew pretty well the answer for that question. Always smiling, Monica rolled her eyes and looked at him matter-of-factly, “Of course I do...”
“So close your eyes, angel, I’ll lean you over the water but I won’t let you ‘sink’, you’ll be in my arms all the time.”
Sighing deeply, she nodded her head and closed her eyes, leaning on his embrace. And, contemplating her beautiful and meek face, Andrew couldn’t resist in brushing a loving kiss on her lips.
“Is this part of the lesson too?” she asked, smiling but without opening her eyes. Andrew kissed her lips once again and smiled too, “Let’s say it’s a bonus for very special students!”
“In that case, thank you!”
Her body’s weight became even lighter as he held her in his strong arms and gently let her float on the calm and crystalline waters. “Angel, you should try to relax your body.”
“It’s a wee bit difficult, ya know...”
“I’m holding you, baby, don’t be afraid.”
“I know...”
He waited until she finally started to relax in his arms and then, without realising it at first, Monica started to float on the water.
“How does it feel, angel?”
“It seems that I’m flying...” she said, without opening her eyes but clearly enjoying the water now.
*
Some time later, she was lying above the water all by herself, without her husband’s support, and had a broad smile upon her face.
“I got, Andrew! I can do it!”
“Yes, you got the first step, angel! See? I told you you would get it!”
“Yes, you were right! But I’ll need more lessons... Every time we have some free time, we can do this, can’t we?” she said, standing on her feet again and excited as a child.
Playfully, he pretended to be considering about that request, “Hum... I don’t know... Only if you give me a kiss as a payment...”
“Hum... Alright, I think I can afford it, mister...” With a broad, beautiful smile on her face, Monica wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing him down for a loving kiss.
A bit later, the two angels decided to come back to the beach house, as the sun was getting hotter and it was lunchtime already. Hand in hand, they walked along the sand, with a gentle breeze on their faces.
“I’m so hungry, you know...” Monica said.
“Yeah, me too,” he agreed, and then quickly added, “But I prepared lunch already, we just have to heat it...”
“You’re such a good househusband!”
Chuckling at her wording, he looked at her, “A ‘househusband’?”
“Yes... Well, to be more precise, you’re an angelic househusband... But one day, I’ll learn to cook as well as you do, you’ll see. If I am able to face the water and even learn how to swim, I can learn to cook well too!”
Fortunately, she didn’t notice the slight fear in his green eyes as she said that, and, trying to hide it, the blond angel let go of her hand and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, bringing her closer to him and kissing her cheek, “I’m sure you will, baby. You’re wonderful!”
*
After lunch, the couple cuddled together in the comfortable hammock, placed in the garden of the beach house, under the shadow of some trees. A gentle breeze was blowing and the slow balance of the hammock lulled them to a pleasant sleep.
When they woke up, a few hours later, the sun was about to set behind the blue ocean. As the blond angel tenderly run his fingers along her auburn hair, Monica sighed with contentment and with a little sadness because those wonderful days were about to end.
“Andrew?”
“Yes?”
“When do we have to go?”
“By the morning, before the sun rises...” he said, also sad to remember that.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure, what is it?”
She straightened her body and looked at him, “Can you get me a flower?”
Andrew looked at her with an intrigued face, “Well... yes...”
“I mean... could you go and get me a flower now?” she insisted, not missing his confused look.
“Now?”
“Yes... please?”
Of course there was nothing in the world he could deny her – especially on those sweet honeymoon days, and, without any other option, he nodded his head. “Okay then... I’ll go and get you an early flower, angel...”
She reached up and kissed his cheek many times, “Thank you... And... I want a lilac this time...”
“A lilac?”
“Yes...”
“Well, you see angel, it’ll take me more time to find a lilac...”
“Oh that’s okay, I’ll wait for you...”
He was really intrigued with that strange request and didn’t want to stay away from his angel girl for a long time, but, watching his reluctance, she shot him a pleading look that made his heart practically melt, “Please, Andrew? Do it for me?”
“Baby, I do everything for you, you know that... And... okay I’ll go catch your lilac but first... I need a kiss, Mrs...”
“Okay, as you wish, mister...”
*
It took Andrew almost 2 hours to find a lilac, and although he knew that Monica had something on her mind, he couldn’t figure out what. She had said that she didn’t want him away from her, not even to catch her flowers, and then, strangely, she had changed her mind. Shaking his head, he returned to the beach house with a bouquet of lilacs in his hands and, when he opened the front door, he didn’t find the Irish angel in the living room.
“Monica? I’m home...”
As she didn’t reply, he walked on further and finally reached the dining room. Then, his mouth dropped open with what he saw: the table was set and beautifully decorated with candles and some small flowers. Dinner was served and the food had a delicious smell.
And then Monica came from behind him with a broad smile upon his face to see his reaction, “I’m sorry I made you leave the house for a while, you know... but there wasn’t any other way I could prepare my wee surprise for you...”
He turned around and a slight smile started to form on his lips, together with the increasing beat of his heart as he lay his eyes on her: Monica was wearing a beautiful sleeveless pearled silk dress, which went down up to her knees. Her hair was spread upon her shoulders in large auburn locks and small pearled earrings matching a pearled necklace completed her outfit, which even included beige leather sandals with low heels.
Overwhelmed with tenderness and deep love, he reached up and stroked her cheek, the vision of her so beautifully dressed and smiling causing his heart to skip a beat, as if he had fallen in love with her all over again.
“I... I can’t believe you did this...”
“Well... remember that you said that you were glad to still have some powers, even being in human form? I can say exactly the same thing!” she replied, grinning at him, enjoying the look in his green eyes, “I have to confess something about the food though... I had a little help from the Father, you know? I still have a lot to learn about cooking and I want you to teach me... But not today... Today the surprise is for you.”
“Angel... I wish I could tell you in words how much you mean to me...” he gave her the bouquet with flowers.
“They’re lovely!”
“Not as lovely as you are...” he said, committing to memory every little trait of her beautiful image, and joked, “In fact, I’m the one who isn’t dressed properly for the occasion...”
Holding the flowers with one arm, Monica wrapped her other arm around his waist and held him as tightly as she could, “I don’t care how you’re dressed... The most important is that you’re here... And...” resting her head against his strong chest, she sighed deeply, with a permanent smile, “...I’ve always found that you look handsome anyway...”
Andrew stroked her hair tenderly, brushing tiny kisses on her forehead, and held her tightly in his strong arms. “Little angel... You’re so precious to me... so precious...”
*
After the romantic candle light dinner, Monica excused herself for a minute. She returned carrying a CD with love songs and put it on the stereo in the living room. Then, she walked over to him and, looking deep inside his green eyes, she offered her hand, “May I have this dance, mister?”
Smiling broadly, Andrew stood up and took her hand, “I’d be happy to, Mrs...”
They walked over to the living room and the blond angel wrapped one arm around her small waist and took her hand, kissing her palm and then placing it against his heart. Monica put her other hand over his shoulder and they started to sway slowly, following the beautiful melody that filled the house.
“Andrew?” she spoke, long minutes later.
“Yes, angel?”
“How many seconds are there in a minute?” she caused him to be somewhat surprised (and really intrigued) with that question, “Hum... 60?”
“And how many minutes in an hour?” she asked, clearly amused with the puzzled look in his eyes.
“60 too...”
“So it makes 3600 seconds... And considering that a day has 24 hours, it makes... hum... 86400 seconds!”
“Monica, honey, you know I love you and that I usually understand your points of view and reflections about the world... But... maybe because you look so beautiful, I’m having a bit of trouble in doing it right now... What exactly do want to tell me?”
“How long have we been married, Andrew?”
Still intrigued and trying to decipher the mystery behind those apparently weird questions, he answered, “For 2 weeks... or 14 days, as you prefer...”
“So we would have to take all these little seconds and multiply them by 14 days...”
“And... why would we have to do that?”
“Can you ask me the same question you made me today, in the morning?”
“You mean... about how much I love you?”
“Yes...” she nodded enthusiastically, still giggling at the totally confused look in his eyes.
Also amused to see how much fun she seemed to be having, he nodded his head, “Okay... Have I told you lately that I love you, angel?”
“The answer is ‘yes’... And we would have to make that little multiplication to find out how many times you told me that you love me, because you tell me that every second of my existence...”
Andrew’s smile grew wider and he stroked her cheek with tenderness, “Angel, you’re adorable...”
“And that’s just because you asked me about ‘lately’... if you want to know exactly how many times you said you love me we would have to multiply all those numbers by many years...”
He gently lay his hands on both sides of her head and placed lots of quick kisses on her lips, “You are the most precious and sweet little angel in this whole wide universe... I’m always amazed by how blessed I am to have you!”
Giggling, she looked deep inside his green eyes, her own eyes sparkling with love for him, “And this wee calculation would work the same way for me, ya know, cause every second I spend with you or think about you is as if I was saying ‘I love you’...”
“I can feel it deep in my heart, angel...” He bent his head and kissed her lips sweetly and tenderly for a long minute. When they parted, it was just for a few inches, so that he could keep on gazing at her face, “But I have an idea... Why don’t we leave the calculation thing for later?”
“Hum... I wasn’t planning to doing it anyway!”
“Yes, that wouldn’t be worth it, you know why?”
“Why?”
“Because by the time we finished it, I’ll have told you how much I love you about a million times more...” he looked at her eyes, “...starting by now...”
They kissed again, holding each other in a tight, loving embrace. Andrew entangled his fingers in Monica’s auburn locks, caressing the back of her head, and pressed his lips firmly onto hers. The little Irish angel stroked his cheek, practically melting in his arms and with her heart filled with the most beautiful feeling in the world, which seemed to have stopped once again only to allow the two angels to share the pure and immense love they felt for each other.
To be continued